This is an image of downtown Gleason from approximately 1910.
City Made Famous By Sweet Potatoes and Clay Industry
BY DAVID FISHER
david@magicvalleypublishing.com
School Days
In 1906, Masons in the vicinity secured a charter and established the Masonic Male and Female Institute, which was Gleason’s first public school. It was a two-story brick building erected in 1904 to replace a private school building that had burned in 1902. The upper story was a Masonic Hall. This was before the days of free schools.
The Masons hired Prof. (first name unknown) Bass to teach the school. He was an old-time schoolmaster and made his appearance at the school building each morning with a bundle of long, keen, enduring hickory switches, which he kept by the side of his desk all day long, according to Dr. R. W. Bandy, who was initiated to their severity upon many occasions.
The Masonic Male and Female Institute continued at Gleason until 1929, when the name was changed to Gleason High School.
Public school funds were limited to three months, so parents paid tuition for their children. By 1910, enrollment had reached 150 students. Two new rooms were added.
Some of the early principals to serve the school were Birch Atkins, Jack Oliver, Marvin Clark, J. B. White, O. E. Holmes, and W. G. Robinson.
Miss Bess Clement organized the first home economics department in 1917, which was enlarged and remodeled in 1963.
Football was introduced in 1929, the same year a new school building was constructed.
In the early 1930s, the Parent Teachers Association converted the old school building into a gymnasium. By 1947, a new gymnasium and six classrooms had been added. By 1948, the Agriculture Building had been bricked, and by 1964 three new classrooms had been built and the home economics department expanded. In 1974 a portable building was used for kindergarten classes, and another addition was added in 1976. A large two-classroom addition was built in 1977. Additional new constructions in 1982, 1997, and 2004 have kept Gleason School’s facilities ready and able to serve the ever-changing needs of its students and community.
In 1969, both girls’ and boys’ basketball teams played in the state tournament. There were 12 teachers in the 1930s and 14 in 1950 with a total enrollment of 425. Enrollment increased to 582 with 27 teachers in 1981. Statistics indicate student enrollment at Gleason School in grades K-12 totals 596 in 2023.
With the beginning of the 2004 - 2005 school year, Gleason High School got a brand new gymnasium. This new gym replaced Dudley Sanders Memorial Gymnasium as the home of both the Gleason High School and Junior High Bulldogs and boasts all the most modern hard court luxuries.
In June of 2021, the Weakley County School Board voted unanimously to name the Gleason gym floor “Randy Frazier Court”, in honor of one of Tennessee’s most successful high school girls’ basketball coaches. Frazier coached the Lady Bulldogs for 25 years, winning three TSSAA state championships (1992, 1999, 2007), one state runner-up title, and had a total of over 600 victories. He also served as Gleason High School Principal for 14 years. Frazier later served as director of Weakley County Schools for 14 years. He retired in June 2023, after serving a total of 37 years with the school system.
Industrial Development
Industrial development includes Gleason’s clay companies. Mr. Kelly Finch was the first to discover clay on his land in the 1920s. He was digging a square wooden curbed well to water his livestock when he hit clay and had difficulty digging any deeper. Mr. Finch was an inquisitive man, so he drilled test holes to find the extent of the mineral on his farm. Satisfied that there was minable clay, he proceeded to open a mine with seven or eight teams of two mules to a pond scoop.
About this time, he headed to Zanesville, Ohio, with a suitcase full of clay samples for testing. The train porter, a former employee of Spinks Clay Company, picked up his heavy suitcase and when finding the contents to be clay, suggested that Mr. Finch go to Cincinnati, home of the famous Rookwood Pottery. When he arrived in Cincinnati, his clay was tested and found to be superior in quality.
The company suggested that he contact H. C. Spinks Clay Company of Newport, Kentucky, and Henry County, Tennessee, to commercially mine the product. This Mr. Finch did and in 1930, H. C. Spinks, father of Harriet Spinks Carothers (Mrs. R. B.), leased land from Mr. Finch. The Carothers family has continued to mine the Finch clay and has expanded the industry throughout the area.
The clay industry has now grown to include the following:
- Gleason Clay Company, which includes Old Hickory Clay Company,
- Lahoist North America - H.C. Spinks Clay Company, Inc.,
- Emory Ceramics - Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Company,
- Gleason Brick Company
These industries ship ball clay worldwide, earning Gleason the title of “Ball Clay Mining Capital of the World.”
The Gleason Foundry Company, which is no longer in business, started in 1934. The building is now utilized by B.A.M. 2, which is a water and wastewater management company.
Early Newspapers
Early Gleason newspapers give the modern reader a glimpse into past events and activities that helped shape the town. They also reveal what was important to the people of that time. Examples of the type of information these early newspapers provided to local citizens are as follows:
A newspaper published in the early 1900s, and perhaps earlier, about which little is known, was “The Gleason Headlight”, which reported on local Tater Town happenings. A 1903 edition of this newspaper described a social event as follows:
“A special Christmas party was given by Miss. Fairra Whitworth. Progressive lunch and music were special entertainment.
“Those present were Misses Lillie Levy, Cary Mitchell, Edwina Lasater, Welborn Whitworth, Myrtle Bobbitt, Wynona Bandy, Mattie Bell Clendennin, Maggie Hunt, and Fairra Whitworth. Young gentlemen present were Will Phares, Robert Mathenny, Will Collins, Clyde Walters, Edward Atkins, Curtis Gardner, George Shankle, Walter Walters, Claud Montgomery, L.W. Lyles, and Jodie Adams.
“The Churchfield Band Played.”
The April 18, 1913 issue of the Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.), made mention of a new newspaper coming to Gleason by the name of The “Gleason Herald”. It reads: “New Paper Out"
“The Gleason Herald, a weekly newspaper published by Cayce & Turner at Martin, Tenn., and edited and managed by M. E. Fanning, assistant cashier of the Bank of Gleason, has just made its initial bow. This is the only other paper there, since the Weakley County Outlook quit in January (1913).”
One of the articles published in a 1913 issue of the Gleason Herald reads as follows:
“At a recent meeting of the board of Gleason, a reward of $25 was offered for the arrest and conviction of any person guilty of bootlegging within the corporation or within a radius of one mile,” Mayor R. J. Whitworth said. If a fine of $5.00 or $10.00 does not keep the peace, then a $25 fine will be levied.”
The Gleason Herald also listed several local businesses and public servants in the same 1913 publication. As follows:
- Cotton Buyer: James K. P. Alexander
- Physicians: John F. Allman, J. W. Bandy, Enoch Heath, S.C. Lankford, J. B. Lasater, and T. H. Swain
- Professor and Teacher: Robert W. Bandy
- Grocer: John F. Brummitt
- Baptist Ministers: Rev. Pleasant W. Cook, and Rev. Robert B. Crews
- Methodist Ministers: Rev. James C. Crews and Rev. Ruben R. Nelson
- Cumberland Presbyterian Ministers: Rev. H. C. Johnson, Rev. W. C. Newberry, and Rev. Hiram J. Ray
- Shoemakers: C. W. Doss and Richard Dunlap
- Principal (Masonic Male & Female Institute): Mrs. Julia W. Huey
- Mills: James & James (Wm. D. and Ed. W.), Tillman Johnson and A. J. Swaim
- General Store: Jones & Casey (Thomas Jones & Joshua Casey)
- General Store: Whitworth & Son (J. S. & Robert J.)
- General Store and Drugs: Lasater Bros (Elias E. & Geo. W.)
- Druggist: S.C. Lankford
- Barber: Green Looney
- Saloon: A.G. Medlock
- Blacksmith: A.G. Medlock
- Tobacco: Drewery M. Pausley and J. A. Russell
- Magistrate and Notary: A.M. Smith, J, H, Stigler
- Matron at Masonic Male and Female Institute: Mrs. S. J. Walton
- Livery Stable: J. D. Whitworth
Additionally, the Gleason Herald was mentioned in other area newspapers of the day, including the April 24, 1914 edition of The Parisian. (Paris, Tenn.).
An article, from a 1913 Gleason newspaper (name unknown), concerns city business. It states the following:
“Have you heard anyone kicking about the proposition to issue more bonds for putting in electric lights, and for graveling the streets? No, of course not!! Nobody could object to these improvements. This is just a step in the right direction, and we must boost the projects.”
An article published in the November 8th, 1902, issue of the Nashville Tennessean titled – “EXCITEMENT IN GLEASON – Somebody doesn’t want houses built on the Street – Special (Gleason, Tenn.) reads:
“A sensation has been created here over the burning of a pile of lumber last night.
“There is a street about 100 feet wide, which runs through the business portion of the town, with hitching racks on either side. A portion of the street is owned by Logan White and he has decided to erect two houses on the property and yesterday with a force of hands began work.
“He tore down a section of hitching racks, which were on the land and hauled in a lot of rafters, sills and other building materials and piled it up on the ground ready to begin work today.
“About midnight last night, the lumber was set on fire and this morning was a heap of ashes and burning logs. No one knows anything about the setting on fire of the lumber and nothing can be learned in regard to it.
The building of the two houses on the spot selected would force all people coming to Gleason from the east and north to cross the railroad twice to get into the business portion of the town when they did not have to cross it at all heretofore, and generally supposed the fire was started to serve as a warning not to erect the buildings in the street.
“The most prominent citizens of the town do not approve of the burning of the lumber and are indigent over the affair. Mr. White went ahead with the work on the houses today and says he will build them, for the land is his.”
An issue of the Gleason Herald (circa 1913) stated: “The auto craze has at last struck our little town . . . we now have four autos and two motorcycles. E. A. While has installed an up-to-date gasoline oil tank in front of the livery stable. By this device autos and motorcycles can be replenished with oil in a very short space of time, and accurately measured.”
An entry taken from the 1913 Thanksgiving issue of the Gleason Herald's Oldtimer's Column states: “In the business world, the new 1914 models of Indian motorcycles were on sale by Calloway motor and Cycle Co. of Gleason. Prices on electrically equipped cycles were $200 to $325 for 7 H.P. specials with electric starters.”
In addition to Gleason’s newspapers, other Weakley County towns, including those in Dresden, Greenfield and Martin, also reported Gleason news. Some of them had weekly sections reserved for Gleason events.
A July 3, 1914 issue of the Dresden Enterprise and Sharon Tribune, published a section entitled, “Gleason Gleanings,” which stated: “Mr. C.C. Wooldridge had a very close call from being instantly killed by the 9:04 train last Thursday morning while driving over the crossing in his automobile.”
Gleason Strong
Gleason is known as a friendly, tight knit community, where neighbors help neighbors, and its citizens stick together in times of need. The people take pride in their school, which excels in academics and sports. They also have a first-rate public park, which hosts summer ball leagues and other activities.
An image of Bell Clay Pit in 1939.
